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Estelle had lived a happy and healthy life. Contrary to her parents hopes, she was born clear sighted, and thus had to learn about her brother’s world far sooner than any had hoped. Since she could talk, she had learned to not ask about her brother’s scars. She learned to ignore when he woke up screaming. She learned to not touch him when he had that far away look in his eyes.
She also knew that Percy deserved everything in the world, because he was the best brother ever.
As she grew up, Percy became more busy. As a result, none of her friends met or remembered Percy, which was fine by her. She didn’t see it, but she’d been told by enough people that her brother was “totally hot.”
Like, gross. He helped change her diapers and played with her while she took bathes, he wasn’t hot.
His boyfriend on the other hand…
But back to the main point. None of her friends had ever met the elusive Perseus Achilles Jackson. Sure, all of her friends in high school had heard about him with how often he came up when she talked to her dad. Percy also still had a reputation amongst the teachers, he had attained something called “cryptid status.”
“Hey Stelle,” her friend Rosie said during lunch. “Have you been to that new bakery? It’s a couple blocks from school.”
She hummed softly. “I don’t think so? Is their food good?”
Rosie shrugged. “Never tried it. It’s the owners that caught my attention,” she said, leaning in close. “They’re like… so hot.”
Estelle laughed. “Of yeah? Wanna go there after school today?” She finished off her sandwich, wiping her mouth with a napkin. She was always happy to try out new places, but she knew that it would never compare to her mom’s or Percy’s cooking. Their food must have been blessed by Hestia with how good it always turned out.
Meanwhile, the only thing she could make good consistently was toast. And even that was sketchy at times. But hey, every person has to have a weakness lest they become too powerful.
Rosie nodded, her curls bouncing with her head. “Yes! I’m gonna ask Javier, Aamira, and Sara if they want to come along.”
“Wait… if the bakery owner’s hot, are you sure inviting Sara and Javier is a good idea? They’ll just drool all over the baked goods or something,” Estelle asked teasingly. Sure, she could understand aesthetic appeal, but she never really understood the whole dating thing. Her parents said she’d understand one day but joining Artemis’ happy band of huntresses sounded better every day.
“Stelle, that’s what’ll make the trip worth it. Seeing them try to order anything from a walking underwear model magazine is everything.” Rosie said, gesturing wildly with her arms. Her friends never ceased to amuse her, especially with how dramatic they could be. Apollo would be proud.
“Point taken, let’s meet at my locker after school.” The bell rang before Rosie could respond. “See you then!” Estelle called out as she ran off to her next class. She easily made her way through the crowds in the hallway, pushing whenever necessary.
All she could hope while sitting through her classes was that the bakery wasn’t Percy’s. She knew he opened it up around a week ago, and she simply hadn’t had time to swing by. If her friends simped over her brother, she would make Kronos eating his kids look like a toddler’s birthday party gone wrong.
Estelle should have known that the universe was out to get her. She had thought with how much bad luck her older brother had, surely, she would have been given good luck to balance it out. Nope. That’s apparently not how it worked. Nemesis or Nike or whoever was in charge of it just didn’t like their family.
Javier and Sara stood in front of the bakery’s window, gawking wide-eyed at Percy who was covered in flour, kneading dough. Javier’s eyes were locked on Percy’s muscular forearms, while Sara was busy checking out his… backend. Rosie, thankfully, had taste. Her eyes refused to leave Apollo, who was leaning on the counter like the useless boytoy he was.
Estelle sighed in resignation before leading the way in. “Hi Percy.”
Her older brother looked up from his dough, flour dusted across his nose. He smiled brightly when he saw it was her, dimples on full display. “Star fish!” He set his dough aside in a bowl to rest, loosely draping a towel over it. He made a weak attempt to wipe his hands off before scooping her up in a tight hug, easily lifting her off of the ground. Percy placed a sloppy kiss on her forward before setting her back down. “Took you long enough to visit!”
Estelle made a show of wiping her forehead off. “I’m only here because my friends wanted to show me ‘the new bakery with the really hot owners,’ but I’m just disappointed now.” She peeked around her brother, giving the resident sun god a small wave. “Hi ‘Pollo.”
He waved back with a sunny smile. “Hi Stella-Bella.”
The smile disappeared from her face. “That’s it. You’re no longer my favorite. I’m joining Artemis’ hunt.” The offended look on Apollo’s face made her laugh. “But I’ll wait until I graduate high school, I don’t want to disappoint mom and dad.”
Percy nodded. “Thatta girl,” he said, ruffling her hair. “Wanna tell your friends they can come in? I don’t want to wash my windows again.”
Estelle looked over, relishing in the flabbergasted looks on her friends’ faces. All three had their noses pressed against the glass, jaws almost on the ground. Rosie looked high-key offended. Which. Valid. Javier and Sara looked like they had just discovered that Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus were, in fact, the same person.
Estelle waved them in. Rosie had to give the other two a light shove to break their trance. She led the way in, eyes refusing to leave Estelle’s face. “Wanna explain this?”
“This is my brother and his boyfriend.” She pointed at Apollo. “He’s pretty, but useless.” Apollo didn’t even look offended; he knew it was true. “Percy is perfect, but unlucky.” Percy couldn’t say she was wrong.
Rosie nodded slowly. “And why are we only just now meeting them? Like, why didn’t we meet them years ago?”
“Percy was at culinary school and Apollo follows Percy,” she said with a shrug. “If you guys came over during break, you would have met them.” She plucked a cookie from the counter, happily taking a big bite out of it. Estelle leaned against her brother, knowing that he could easily take her full weight.
“I still feel like you should have mentioned that your brother is literally Adonis.”
Her friends were confused as to why Percy and Apollo both choked on their laughter. “No no no, Percy is much too smart to be Adonis.” Apollo said, draping an arm across his boyfriend’s shoulders. “I think it would be better to compare Perseus to…”
“We are not going to get into this again,” Percy said with a shake of his head, smile playing on his lips. “And Estelle, don’t give them any ideas. I’m just a normal guy that likes to bake cookies.” Percy pulled out a tray from the glass case. “Considering my sister’s already helped herself, you three can have some as well. On the house.”
Estelle’s three friends stepped forward, each taking a cookie from the tray. Estelle, Percy, and Apollo happily watched as they found the meaning of life upon taking their first bites.
“Anyway, how’s life been?” Estelle asked her brother, finishing off her cookie. He looked down at her with such tender affection, it almost hurt.
“Really good, really good. Opening week went really well, we’ve had a steady stream of customers ever since.” He lightly squeezed her shoulders. “I hate to push your friends out, but the next rush is about to start, and I need to get some bread in the oven. Feel free to come back whenever you like.”
Estelle nodded grabbing a few cookies for the road. “Come on guys, my mom misses you guys and already said you could come over for dinner.”
All three perked up. “We get Mrs. Blofis’ cooking?!” Javier asked with a bright smile. “Let’s go!” He led the way out, dragging Sara by her wrist. The two gave Percy and Apollo a wave as they passed the doorframe.
“It was nice to finally meet you two,” Rosie said with a smile. “I’ll definitely be coming back, this is the best cookie I’ve ever had.”
“Yeah, feel free to wrestle another from Estelle, I think she grabbed six for the road,” Percy said, shaking his head in fondness. “Have a nice day, tell mom and Paul hi for me guppy!”
Estelle nodded, her mouth full of cookie. She led Rosie out of the bakery and was immediately accosted by all three of her friends about how she betrayed them by keeping her ‘super-hot and sexy’ brother from them.
Ahhh, how she wished she had a less attractive family.